Monday, September 26, 2016

I'm treading on eggshells with some of you here but I want to share an exchange I had with someone on a forum who just so happened to be one of those people that like to inject religion into every conversation. This one was about the presidency so how GOD got into I don't know but this guy made a connection and for me it's disheartening that 2000 years of evolution doesn't mean a damned thing....

Bible Thumper....And let me understand this through your eyes: King David was?Did God send him out?Did God tell him who and who not to spare and why?Or how about King Saulor:Moses sent out twelve spies, one for each of the tribes of Israel, to scout out the Land of Canaan the Israelites were to inherit. When they returned, ten of the spies (the other two were Joshua and Caleb) gave a faithless report regarding Israel's ability to possess the land. The lack of faith among the people caused them to wander the desert for forty years. Those who brought a negative report regarding Israel's chances of possessing the promised land were killed by a plague (Numbers 14:28 - 37).32 While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, 34 and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.” 36 So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.MESo you're saying Reagan was Abraham or Moses? Or is it King David or Saul.....Please explain how the bible has anything to do with the presidency. Prove your point without mythology if you can. And before you go off on a bible thumping tangent. I do believe in a higher power but not in one whose message is contained in a tome corrupted by every one of those who created it for their own ends.More to the point, however, the Reagan presidency's primary accomplishment was a national lowering of the bar for how we choose our leaders. His reign set in motion the economic disaster and radical ideology that threaten the very foundation of this nation. I'm sure Ayn Rand was smiling from Valhalla when he appointed Alan Greenspan, the very architect of both market crashes and the great recession to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. There's nothing in scripture about that save Jesus kicking the moneylenders off the steps of the temple.

Bible Thumper you can believe in a higher power all you like. Congratsuations because there is some hope. Not being able Identify Who that higher power is means you aren't listening, not seeing and clearly not searching. People like you speak and think in circles while patting yourself on the back, and unfortunately there is no room for "REASONING"For those who are spiritually dead, who think they are awake but only dreaming, you can not shed the"Egotistical burden" you carry. You have your opinion and you are entitled to it. Congratsulations.People "Think" operative word here, "Think" they are the President of the United States, others think they are women when their bodies tell a totally different story. Then there are those who "Believe" in Hillary Clinton. Thinking for some is simply the reinforcement of bad behaviors. With some it's like "practicing": People think if they just practice, practice, practice they will get better and achieve their goals. NO, not necessarily, especially if they are continuing to re-enforce poor techniques, bad habits and not correct the problem that they need to break to become better at the task, yet they just keep practicing.So frankly , I don't care what you think and I would challenge you to prove anything about creation with out God.BTW: Don't thump your science book, because it isn't in there. It's Theory and that's what science isME

The only reason you think I may ponder in circles is because your entire belief system is based on circular logic. That you have the AUDACITY to assume you have all the answers based on flaky mythology should be giving you great pause. You can't possibly hope to challenge me with your admonitions of how god is the Alpha and Omega of all things.Why? because we end up back at the circular logic which is enough for you. I can accept that there are things I can't hope to understand in my own lifetime anymore than a caveman would understand an Iphone. What I cannot accept is dogmatic need to attribute everything to god. In fact I'm inclined to believe George Carlin was more on point than anyone else who ever dared approach the topic.If god has his fingers in everything he/she/it must not be too bright.Work smarter not harder. Mortal Human beings came up with that and if they are in the creators image then it's his idea. So why isn't he taking his own advice. Would you suggest that because you exist merits the exclusive unwavering attention of one so omnipotent? Why?How arrogant, how egotistical to think that some all powerful creator would waste time building babies and mountains and making the grass grow and wind howl let alone listening to your endless ramblings every night about how "those people" are ruining everything.No, you do no service to your faith by assuming God is that stupid. If there is such a being, force, whatever he's more engineer than dictator. You've essentially invested your faith in a glorified Micro Manager with OCD. How disrespectful for a deity you supposedly hold so dear. How disrespectful to his creation to deny his greatest gift, the mind, to free itself from the chains that stretch back to a time when mere survival in circumstances nobody in this time could fathom was a feat in itself. That was a time to soothe yourself with gods and miracles. If there is a god he should be smiling that some have chosen to use the mind he's given for things other than petty dogmatic worship and cultist regression. How sad that one so great would see so many that reject such gifts.There's your bridge I'm open to the possibility of anything and fearless to say I don't know everything and neither do you regardless of your faith. If you can't do the right thing on your own no mythology can absolve you.Oh but there I go again with all that "Science" and "Thinking" stuff again..

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Thank You!We just broke 100,000 views of this blog. Yes, it took 5 years to do it, yes, most sites get that in a day but to me it's a major milestone so THANK YOU!Your support is the catalyst to continue and I intend to.So whether it's popular culture, TWIT or anything else I cover know that if it's worth writing about I'll be sure to post it here.Tell you friends! Looking forward to the next 100,000 views!

Friday, September 23, 2016

So let's take a break from the activism for a bit and explore one of the other reasons for this blog's existence. I've said it before. I'm a frustrated storm chaser. I'm fascinated by weather and storms and if I could afford it I'd have one of those home weather stations just so I could check barometric pressure and wind speed every 5 minutes.Alas, I'm just an enthusiast with a smartphone and an old 1 Megapixel camera that eats batteries like a 5 year old eats fruit loops.Below are some of my favorite examples of this year's Arizona Monsoon season. I actually got lucky in a few videos and caught some dramatic shots but truth be told this year's monsoon was more about wind than rain. In fact the meteorologists are saying we're actually down 2 inches this year having not broken 5 inches in total. Some places got much more than that but those were isolated cases. In one storm event a part of the valley received 3 inches of rain in an hour. That doesn't sound like much if you're from the Midwest or deep South but here it translates into freeways underwater and cars floating around.Of course I can't let this post end without mentioning that you can enjoy most of these videos Ad Free thanks to TWIT's abuse of YouTube's copyright system. The very same one that Leo's brain-dead zombie henchmen led by the #DarkTrollWitch have used to demonetize the entire channel till November....Leo's on a boat for this year's vacation. I hope he doesn't get too seasick but Karma being what it is....Anyway...Try to enjoy these snippets of time from this year's Arizona Monsoon storms brought you courtesy of my crappy cameras and poor videography. You might see something that surprises you!Peace..

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Riddle me this....If an education from a "For Profit" educational institution is so expensive how can it be considered worthless?How can an education costing sometimes 2 to 3 times as much not offer 2 to 3 times the benefit?It all comes down to greed. The problem with getting a good education is its cost. Even if you haven't been victimized by the outrageous tuition and questionable value of a private college, the bottom line is that getting a leg up is going to cost you.As generations go by the hurdles get higher. Today without the aid of grants, scholarships and student loans any hope of an education past high school is out of reach.Enter the "For Profit" education industry. These are the ITT Tech's, Devry's and University of Phoenix's that promise a more accessible road to success but at a premium price. The problem here is the profit motive that short-circuits the emphasis on the student in favor of how much money can be extracted from him/herWhen you mix profit and education, education suffers. Profit in education to me is equivalent to profit in retail and retail is all about volume and maximum return with minimal investment.Maximum return from minimal investment may be fine for paper towels but I don't choose a university the same way I choose the store brand over Brawny!Students aren't making a minimal investment. Not of their time, effort or especially their money. To that end, I'm adamant against painting these students with the same brush as those that have corrupted their institutions. Forget the term, "diploma mill." From my own experience I can tell you that while the motives of the "for profits" CEO's may not have been pure the motives of the students were. Nobody gets on the hook for 5 figures without expecting something for the investment. That said, education is a personal experience and it's up to you to get as much out of it as you can. That doesn't absolve a school from their responsibility to provide value, however. The "for profit" schools often demand sums far in excess of their public university competition for comparable education.A sum that's often paid in the form of student loans that put the recipient on the hook for thousands of dollars regardless of the quality of the institution. A process with little oversight that provided billions of dollars to "for profit" schools that didn't deliver on their sales pitch. So long as the body was in the seat, however, they didn't care because the free flow of taxpayer money was a tap without a shutoff.At least until now.With the blatant mismanagement of ITT and Corinthian we see the seedy underside of the "for profit" education industry for what it is. That being, profit driven with no more regard for the student than what's required to continue abusing the Federal Student loan programs.You didn't see that in the glossy brochures or flashy websites, however. Instead you saw a sales pitch that paints these schools as the light at the end of the tunnel for the disenfranchised led by benevolent philanthropists.Except that these schools aren't being operated according to some overarching altruism. We're back to that maximum return for minimum investment thing again. It was about making as much money as possible for as long as they could get away with it. Ultimately, leaving the students holding the bag.And without intervention from some government body they will continue to be holding that bag. The institution may fail but that doesn't absolve the students from the debt. When you have Federal Student Loans the Federal government is your creditor, not the school. Once the disbursement is made the school has their money. Even if they go bankrupt you're still on the hook with nothing to show for it.The video below goes into far more detail than you'd care to read here. I encourage you to take a few minutes and learn from someone with first hand knowledge of the issue.

Thursday, September 8, 2016

I told you I'd be watching and I'm keeping my promise. This time it's proof positive of the double standard TWIT employs when it comes to copyrighted material. TWIT had a "Live Special" that was nothing more than a live reaction video to Apple's September 7th event. That's bad enough but TWIT was also rebroadcasting the event which is in direct violation of the Apple Copyright and Terms of Use of their website.So why do I care?As you know, My Digital Dynamic channel received a copyright strike due to a takedown of an UNEDITED vidcap of the broadcast of TWIT's move to the East Side studios. Even though I conformed to the strictest interpretation of the Creative Commons license I still received a copyright violation that removed monetization for all videos on that channel most of which had no TWIT content.OK, so TWIT's on my list but what about YouTube? What do they have to do with it?Everything.. There's a double standard at play here.One that for me began years ago with the #microstopped mass takedown that yanked a Windows 8 HowTo video and continues with the recent TWIT takedowns of the past month. YouTube provides the heavy hand to enforce what is often unfair and unsubstantiated copyright claims. The fact of the matter is this. YouTube is not your friend when it comes to copyright law and free speech. YouTube is in the business of selling ads not political activism. To that end they protect their Safe Harbor provisions and their advertising revenue at your expense. It's a business not a public park. They get to make the rules and however unfair or unevenly applied you have to operate within them if you want to put your content on their service.BUT...When they enforce the rules on one party and not another that sets up a double standard. This is why I include them in my "hypocrisy engine."Here's the companion video. Much more fun than all these...words...